Air Handle Pass is an unhooked jump where the rider passes the control bar behind the back from one hand to the other while still airborne.
Also called: Handle Pass · Air Pass · Dangle Pass
Prerequisites
Unlocks
Helps to know first
Schools teach this differently
Our sources teach two different pass mechanics: IKSurfMag builds the trick from an inverted, stalled float in the dangle-pass lineage (get vertical, thrust hips to hands, exchange the bar while upside down), while Art of Kitesurf and the 313 guide teach a head-led rotation in which the gaze over the front shoulder drives the exchange. Progression's ladder lists the dangle pass and the powered handle pass as separate steps, so the two methods sit on different rungs of the same progression.
Ideal conditions
No source we cite prescribes a knots band; guidance is by kite size and power instead: moderate power on a kite one size below your normal choice (Art of Kitesurf: a 9-10m where you would ride a 12m at 15 knots; IKSurfMag: a 10 or 12 without too much power), over deep water with clear space around you.
How to do it
1. Rig and rehearse
- Trim the bar right down toward the chicken loop so the kite delivers power only in the first third of the depower stroke.
- Test the trim standing waist-deep: unhook and hold the kite at zenith with arms outstretched; if it sits there without backstalling, the setting is right.
- Clip the kite leash on the side of the hand you pass from: passing right hand to left, the leash goes on your right.
- Rig a kite you can hold down comfortably, one size below your normal choice; a 10 or 12 with moderate power beats a scary 8 or a sluggish 16.
- Before any water attempt, hang a bar from a beam and drill the pass: jump up, throw your head back, push your hands toward your hips and tap the bar behind your back while inverted.
2. Approach and pop
- Come in with good speed, hands centered on the bar and the kite parked around 11 o'clock; kept back there it depowers during the pass instead of lifting you.
- Stand up slightly to bear off, let the line tension drop, and unhook.
- Drop your weight low and away from the kite, push your hips back over the tail, then carve hard back upwind, driving off the back foot with the front leg extended so the board stays on its edge.
- Pop straight up, elevator-style, with arms slightly bent and the bar level; straight arms make everything about the pass harder.
3. Invert, float, pass
- The moment you leave the water, pull your chin toward the bar, lift your knees and throw your head back, elbows locked into your sides.
- Thrust your hips up and push the bar down toward them; that seesaw stalls you upside down and buys the hang time the pass needs.
- Release your front hand and twist the wrist of the holding hand as far as it will go; the twist drags your shoulders round and parks the bar within reach behind your back.
- Keep your head turning over your front shoulder and steer with your eyes the whole way round; a stopped gaze stops the rotation.
- Make the exchange at the apex or on the way down, once the kite has lost its lift and the bar comes down to you.
4. Landing
- Let momentum finish the turn as you drop, lift your head and look where you want to ride away.
- Get the free hand back on the bar as soon as your height allows for a controlled touchdown.
- Ride out a sword grip if that is what you land with; the kite loops gently right above your head.
- Expect early makes to come down one-handed, sometimes backwards in the water right after the pass; release the bar and set up again.
Common mistakes and fixes
Mistake
You drop like a stone the instant one hand leaves the bar.
Fix
You are not vertical enough. Go back to the fixed bar and drill the float: hips and legs thrust upward while the hands push toward the hips.
Mistake
Redirecting the kite on takeoff, so it lifts and pulls the bar out of reach.
Fix
Leave the kite parked as you take off; with no lift you can pull the bar down to you instead of hauling yourself up to it.
Mistake
Passing too early, while the kite still has lift.
Fix
Wait for the apex and pass on the way down, when the lift has gone out of the kite.
Mistake
Slowing or stopping the head mid-rotation.
Fix
Keep the gaze turning over the front shoulder until the bar has changed hands; a frozen head locks the body out early and you land crooked.
Mistake
Extending the arms during the pop.
Fix
Keep them slightly bent through takeoff; straight arms complicate every part of the pass.
If it goes wrong
- If you miss the pass and land backwards with one hand on the bar, let go of the bar and set up for another try.
- Ride with the leash securely fastened to a depower point, the chicken loop on a bow kite or the fifth line on a C kite, so a released bar kills the power.
- Fix the leash to one side of the harness so the quick release stays reachable if you need it.
- Wear a helmet and impact vest, and only attempt the trick where there is plenty of deep water to fall into and clear space around you.
Learn this with a coach, not from a page
This is a high-consequence move. The sources it is built from describe riders getting hurt on it, and every one of them teaches it as a step you earn rather than attempt. Get coaching, build up in stages, ride with people who can help you, and give yourself deep water and clear space downwind.
Find a certified schoolEducational reference, not instruction. Kitesurfing is a risk sport: the steps here describe what named schools, instructors and technique libraries teach, and the page lists exactly which ones, but real conditions involve wind, gusts, water state, traffic and equipment behaviour that no written guide accounts for. Schools also teach justified variations — where our sources disagree, the page says so instead of picking one. Judge your own readiness, use the safety systems on your kite, and do not attempt a move because a page made it sound achievable. KitesurfingOfficial accepts no liability for the use of this information on the water.
Questions riders ask
What should I be able to do before trying an air handle pass?+
Solid unhooked riding and a clean elevator-style unhooked jump straight up. IKSurfMag also wants the pass drilled on a fixed bar hung from a beam until the hand exchange is muscle memory. Progression's ladder runs surface pass, then dangle pass, then powered handle pass; on the blind judge route you learn the powered raley and the raley landing blind before adding the air pass.
What kite size and how much power do I want?+
Comfortable, moderate power on a kite one size below your usual choice. Art of Kitesurf gives the example of rigging a 9 or 10 where you would normally take a 12 in 15 knots; IKSurfMag calls a 10 or 12 with not too much power ideal and warns that a 16m tractor and a scary 8m both make learning harder.
Do I need boots or a C-kite?+
No. Art of Kitesurf recommends learning in straps and moving to boots later, and says kite type matters less than getting the trim right, even though C-kites dominate among pro freestylers. The 313 guide adds that C-shaped hybrids such as the Cabrinha FX create more slack, which makes the pass easier to learn.
Why can't I reach the bar behind my back?+
Usually kite lift. If you redirect on takeoff, the kite pulls the bar away from you, so keep it parked around 11 o'clock and make the exchange at or after the apex, once the lift is gone. The 313 guide flicks the kite down toward the water near the apex to create slack in the lines. Have someone watch from the beach too: IKSurfMag notes your hand is often only an inch from the bar without you knowing it.
How rough are the first attempts?+
The sources stage them deliberately small. IKSurfMag sets the first goal as a pass from a modest jump, even if you land backwards in the sea the moment the second hand releases, because knowing the pass is possible builds confidence. Art of Kitesurf adds that learning in straps rather than boots is what it recommends over starting in boots, with helmet and impact vest on.
Keep reading
Sources
Every step on this page traces to the sources below. Where they disagree or stay silent, the page says so instead of guessing.